Gas X has a mass of 28.02 amu and gas Y has a mass of 32 amu. Which gas will diffuse faster?

1 Answer
Aug 19, 2016

The two gases will almost diffuse at the same speed.

Explanation:

The root mean square velocity (Urms) of a gas is found by:

Urms=3RTMM

where, MM is the molar mass of the gas.

If you have two gases, X and Y, the ratio between their Urms can be determined by:

UXUY=MMYMMX

UXUY=3228.02=1.0681.1(2 significant figures)

Therefore, the two gases will almost diffuse at the same speed.